Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in Welligton, New Zealand during the 1890s. The fact that the photgrapher has a sailor ser up shows that the sailor suit was commonly worn. Note the long stockings and ringlet curk.
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Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in Welligton, New Zealand during the 1890s. The fact that the photgrapher has a sailor ser up shows that the sailor suit was commonly worn. Note the long stockings and ringlet curk. |
New Zealand was settled by the Maori people. Europeans began arriving in the mid-19th century and after a series of war with the Maoris seized control. Most of the original settlers were British and the islands was eventually annexed by the British. The Maori today are a substantial minority along with Pacific islanders. New Zealand boys clothing from the beginning of the colonial period in the 1840s have mostly followed British styles. The gernerally mild climate and low incomes in the colony mean that boys more commonly went barefoot. This also mean that liong stockings were less common than in Britain. Boys commonly wore short pants through the 1950s. Long pants began to become more, except in secondary schools which generally required short pants school uniforms. Beginning in the World War II era (1939-45) America began to have an impact on boys' fashions. Large numbers of American troops began arriving in 1942. By the 1980s New Zealand boys' fashions had become simlar to those worn in Europe and America, with the exception of school uniforms.
Significan European immigration bergan in the mid 19th century. Thuus European fashions in New Zealand have a very limited history beginning at this time. Chronological fashion trends have generally followed English trends. The only major difference was that in the mild New Zealand climate that it was more common for boys to go barefoot. Ecven so except for footwear, New Zealand boys tended to wear clothes more in keeping with the English climate than the New Zealand climate. This trend continued well into the 20th century. Boys at the turn of the century generally wore kneepants or knickers with long dark stockings. Sailor suits were very popular for primart school children. By the 1910s, shortpants and knickers were more common.The war experienced introduced New Zealanders to Americans for the first time. This widened their perspectives of many New Zealanders. British fashions dominated until the 1960s when American blue jeans and "T"-shirts began to appear. American-style casual clothes appealed to the more casual New Zealand outlook and reflect the gradual movement away from Britain as the British increasinly moved toward Europe and away from its former colonies. New Zealand boys today, except, for their school uniforms, dress almost the same as American boys, jeans, T shirts, baseball caps, and baggy shorts.
The garments worn by New Zealand boys were almost identical with those worn in England until after World War II. The primary difference was that New Zealand boys were less likely to wear shoes and stockings, in part becaise of the mild climate. New Zealland like neigboring Australia had a significant Scottish imigration and some boys did wear kilts at the turn of the century. The sailor suit was, as in England, a very popular 19th century style for boys after breeching. As in England, the sailor suit was usually worn to about the time noys began preparatory boarding school, or about 8 years of age. Boys were more likely to wear stockings and shoes for formal occasions. The same pattern continued in the 1910s when bous began wearing short pants instead of kneepants. They would commonly go barefoot, but would wear shoes and long stockings and later kneesocks when dressing up. After World War II clothing began to be increasingly casual. Clothing began reflecting the New Zealand climate more than the English climate. American styles began to appear and British styles were no longer the exclusive inflkuence on local clothing. In recent years increasing attention has been given tom sun-safe garments.
HBC has collected information on a variety of activities in which New Zealand boys have participated in over time. Many of these activiities involve specialized costumes. Often the children. however, just wore their ordinary clothes. The available images thus show trends in English boys' clothing over time. The activities include choir, dance, games, music, religious observation, school, sport, and many others. New Zealand is blessed with a mild climate. The far noth of Nort Island is semi-tropical. The far south of South Island is temperate, but the Witers are not very hard. Thus outdoor activities, both sport and other activities are possible throughout the year, much more so than many other countries. Some of these images are interesting because they depict life-style information in addition to fashion.
Figure 2.--School uniforms are primarily based on British styles. Many New Zealanders continued to believe in the merits of school uniform. |
New Zealand as a former British colony, instituted a school system virtually identical to the British system. Slowly the country developed its own distinctive education system. One of the features of British education, at least for secondary schools, adopted from Britain was school uniforms. The first secondary schools opened in the country adopted the uniforms standard at British public (privte secondary) schools. One of the early New Zealand private schools (Wanganui College) played a major role in introducing short pants to the New Zealand secondary school uniform. The Headmaster at Wanganui College spent some time at a Scottish school, Loretto. He was so impressed with the uniform that he intrioduced it at Collegiate. At the time there were only a few secondary schools in New Zealand. Collegiate was such an influential school that most other secondary schools adopted a similar uniform.
We do not have a great deal of information about New Zealand hair styles. As far as we can determine they were essebtially indestinguishable from British hair styles. Thus the styles we have seen from New Zealand photographsare the same that we see in England. We see the same fads such as Little Lord Fauntleroy ringlet curls in the late 19th century that we see in Britain. As in Britain we do no note the same cropped hair that we see in Germany. We do see the straight back and sides hair style that was popular in Britain durung the first half of the 20th century. After World war II, New Zealand seems less influenced by American hair styles then other aspects of American culture.
One interesting aspect of New Zealand boys clothing is work clothes. The work clothes worn by boys in the United States in the early 20th century were small editions of their father's clothes. Bib-overalls were a common style worn with long denim jackets. By mid-century, regular jeans were more common--but always long pants. Except for extremly small children, you did not see men or boys wearing short pants in rural America on the farm or ranch. It was quite different in Australia and New Zealand. It was quite common for men and presumably boys to wear short pants as work clothes. HBC is not sire about the reason for this difference, presumably the warmer climate is at least partly responsible.
HBC has begun to collect information and images of families around the world. We believe that this helps to put the more individualized photographs of boys into a more complerte fashion and social context. These images not only show what the other menbers of the family (sisters, mothers, and fathers) were wearing, but also the homes and activities over time and of different social classes. Styes not only varied over time, but also on other variables such as social class. Such information is often difficult to discern from individua portraits. While the individual portraits provide more details on the actual fashions they often provide only cluses as to some of the sociological and historical trends which HBC is also pursuing.
HBC has little information about New Zealand films. New Zealand has only a small population, but we have seen a few film and there is a local film industry. Hopefully our New Zealand readers will provide some further suggestions.
New Zealand boyhood: The 1950s
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